Rupee, stocks take a hit

Mumbai, June 16: The rupee weakened to its lowest level in more than a month today as surging crude oil prices threatened to push up inflation and aggravate the country’s current account deficit.

Besides, wholesale price inflation surged to a five-month high of 6.01 per cent in May, which further hurt the rupee to drag it down to 60.23 per dollar in intra-day trade, a level last seen on May 6.

Brent crude rose towards $113 a barrel on Monday after a strong rally last week, as Sunni insurgents advanced in Iraq, intensifying concerns over a potential disruption to oil exports from the second-largest OPEC producer.

The rupee ended at 60.16 against the dollar versus its previous close of 59.77 on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Sensex and Nifty today closed at their lowest levels in over 10 days. The Sensex fell 37.69 points, or 0.15 per cent, to end at 25190.48 and the Nifty ended 8.55 points, or 0.11 per cent, down at 7533.55.